Sunday, 11 March 2018

Moving forward with the advice Ethan has generously given me over the past week or so, I've further into his suggestions around bullet physics and the shatter fx tool, a tool that is allowing a level of realism in terms of physics to my project, something I was keen on achieving.

In the experiment below I am again following the guidelines provided by Ethan and shattering objects with applied gravity and bullet physics, allowing another layer of contributions for Maya to make in terms of the placement of the shattered pieces and their patterns...

Angles such as that show in that experiment will be used sparingly throughout my final film, however I do feel they will help add a weight of realism to the more abstract deformations.

Thursday, 8 March 2018

After a very detailed and helpful conversation around Maya and its fx complexities with Ethan Shilling, I have taken a guidelines provided by him and have begun working in more detailed with the shatter fx tool, defining some of the more complex animations within my end product. Ethan has given some really helpful advice that would of been incredibly difficult to find elsewhere and has pointed me in a direction that could very well inform the final renders of my project, namely the shatter fx. The below renders were taken after applying the shatter fx tool to a glass textured model, allowing me to simulate the chipping and shattering of my structure...

The above experiments were conducted with guidelines and suggestions provided by Ethan and have delivered some really interest renders that are now going to be implemented into a test animation with some more refined results.

Wednesday, 7 March 2018

After some successful renders showcasing the realism I can achieve in my rock texture, I've performed a couple of short fx and ncloth experiments to see what kind of depiction the material could have on screen...

Tuesday, 6 March 2018

Before completing my final steel experimentation I've decided to begin looking some of the opportunities available to me surrounding the rock texture and that segment of my final film. Despite stating in the above diagram that I plan to show carving through particle dynamics, after some research it seems that the shatter tool in the fx menu may prove to be more useful to me.

To create the set below I followed a simple tutorial (link at the bottom of post) that highlighted the shatter tool and the effect it can have a model, seemingly something that could benefit the rock portion of my project massively...

To create these models I applied a texture that I photographed and then worked in an original bump map to enhance the material and add a level of realism that is going to help bring this project to a higher standard.

I'm incredibly happy with the results of this experiment and its level of reality as I feel it looks a step above some of my other experiments in terms of realism, I now plan to create a number of experiments around the types of movement and collisions these rocks could have on each other.